How is the CH digraph pronounced?

Answer 1

The "CH" is a consonant digraph and it pronounces like a J but in a voiceless tone. The examples are chair, chain, chat, chart, chin, chop, church, change, etc. This is a pretty common CH pronunciation.

However, sometimes, the CH remains the C sound like character, chemical, chaos, ache, chrome, etc. Typically, when the C is followed by an E, I or Y, then it'll become a soft C which sounds like an S. However, if we wanted the C to be hard but the following letters would soften the C, then that's when the CH remains the C sound like chemical, orchid, orchestra, etc. These words might sounds like it makes a voiceless J sound, but that's exceptional due to these reasons. If these words didn't have an H, then the C might soften as we can see what's the following letter, which we don't expect in these words as it'll sound odd. Sometimes, if the following letter would soften the C but we want the hard C, we can use a K instead like kid, kind, king, kill, kiss, keen, kite, keep, etc. This is a pretty tricky pronunciation because if we see a CH, there's no visible clue and it's quite a hidden clue of whether the word originally makes a voiceless J sound or if the word should make a C sound but the following letters would soften, which we can't tell about. If it's about making the F-ending word's plural, then it's easier because there's a clue that it'll be "ves". However, if the CH is followed by an L or R like chlorine, chronology, chrome, chromosome, etc., then that's also when the CH will remain the C sound, then that's a visible clue. However, there are some exceptions that the CH remains a C sound although these reasons weren't applied like character, charisma, anchor, mechanic, school, stomach, tech, etc. In these words, the following letters doesn't soften the C and the CH isn't followed by an L or R, so that's exceptional.

Sometimes, there's something called a "soft CH". When the C is followed by an E, I or Y, then the C would soften, which would make an S sound. Soft CH is when the C makes and SH sounds and sometimes, although the CH isn't followed by an E, I nor Y, it might make a soft CH sound like charade, champagne, chute, parachute, chartreuse, etc. which sounds quite unusual and it makes it quite more challenging because when you come up with a CH, it seems like it might make a voiceless J sound or C sound but you might be surprised that it might be a soft CH which makes an SH sound. The examples of soft CH are charade, chute, parachute, chef, Michelle, Michigan, machine, chalet, champagne, chevron, chartreuse, etc.